SUCCESS FOR CAMPAIGN TO TREAT PEOPLE GOING BLIND

Peter Bone, Member of Parliament for Wellingborough and Rushden has
today commented on the National Institute of Clinical Excellence's
(NICE) decision to make treatment for Wet Eye Age Related Macular
Degeneration (Wet AMD) available on the NHS.

Mr Bone has spearheaded a very prominent national and local campaign to
get the drug Lucentis available on the NHS which was formerly only
prescribed privately costing Wet AMD sufferers thousands of pounds. Wet
AMD is a rapid degenerative disease and if not treated promptly results
in blindness in as little as three months.

Mr Bone says: 'Several of my elderly constituents contacted me over two
years ago to alert me to the problem they were facing. They were being
told by consultants that they either had to pay privately for treatment
or face going blind.

'Many sufferers of Wet AMD can not afford to pay thousands of pounds in
treatment to save their sight so I started a campaign to try and change
Government policy on the issue.

'I asked Parliamentary questions of Ministers, the Health Secretary and
the Prime Minister who agreed that the government's policy was unfair. I
spoke in several debates in Parliament on the matter and was even
granted my own special debate by the Speaker of the House of Commons. I
also met with the local Primary Care Trust and hospitals in
Northamptonshire.

'NICE produced draft guidance in December 2007 stating that Lucentis
should be available on the NHS but that it was not mandatory for Primary
Care Trusts to implement this policy immediately.

'I would like to praise Northamptonshire PCT who did implement NICE
guidelines soon after they were announced.

'However, I am disappointed that it has taken NICE two and a half years
to decide to treat Wet AMD sufferers on the NHS. During this time
thousands of people have gone blind unnecessarily while NICE has
dithered in making a decision.'